Ras Muhammad
Reserve: One of the Finest Diving Sites in the World

Ras Muhammad reserve enjoys a worldwide fame as one of the most outstanding diving sites all over the world. It is also rich with coral reefs colourful fish, sea turtoises and other wonderful aquatic creatures including mollusca and seaweeds.

The reserve lies in the southern part of Sinai Peninsula, at the meeting point of Suez Gulf and Aqaba Gulf and 70 km from at-Toar city. It is bounded to the north by the southern coast of at-Teih plateau. It extends 10-15 km into the sea along the coastal area up to Ras Nasrani and Tiran and Sanafeer islets.
It has a total area of about 200 km2 of which 75 km2 of land space and 125 km2 of sea space. The eastern shoreline is a rocky cliff on the Gulf water where coral reefs are found in abundance. In addition, the mangrove channel separates Ras Muhammad peninsula from Al Ba…eira 333 m2 islet over a length of 250 m. The shallow dries up as the tide comes to a low ebb.

Unique Formations
Ras Muhammad reserve is surrounded by eye-catching coral reefs from all sides. In addition, the unique geomorphological formation conditions its wild life.

Major Sites
Ras Muhammad reserve is famous for its remarkable sites. These comprise a beach area suitable for tourism, the mangrove bush for scientific research purposes, the magic pool formed by ebb and tide, the ancient seismic movement area in addition to points for watching coral reefs, birds and ancient fossils.
Specifically, this reserve is world famous as one of the finest diving sites in the world.
Ras Muhammad nature reserve contains about 150 coral reefs.
Coral reefs are usually found in large colonies, each containing a specific type. They secrete calcium carbonate structure that gives them a stone-like look. However, coral reefs are living creatures with complex ecosystems, highly sensitive to the surrounding environment such as temperature, light, salinity or oil pollutants. Therefore, the need special care.

Developing the Reserve
Due to the international importance of the reserve, a comprehensive programme was designed in cooperation with the European Community to preserve its natural resources, increase its efficiency and enhance its capabilities.
This development plan aims at establishing a balance between protecting natural resources against environmental degredation and utilizing it as a source of national income. Therefore, the reserve was classified as a national park due to the availability of vast land nad sea areas. The reserve comprises varied models of natural environments and landscape of special aesthetic value, in addition to a variety of flora and fauna and diverse geological formations. The reserve serves scientific, educational, tourist and recreational purposes and helps preserve biodiversity through sound protection and management.

As this reserve is notable for its natural resources including marine and wild life and geological fossils, the reserve management supervises several activities salient of which are:
- Increase environmental awareness of visitors through direct mass communications or by distributing brochures on the reserve.
- Undertake environmental surveillence of natural life phenomena in the reserve.
- Carry out different insurance plans to protect both natural resources and visitors.
- Work on scientific researches for the benefit of the reserve.
- Improve and keep the area clean and eliminate different pollutants.
Varied Natural Resources
All activities undertaken by the reserve management help encourage scientific and recreational tourism and preserve natural resources, represented in the rich biodiversity of the area including aquatic creatures, coral reefs, fish, shells, crustacea and wild animals such as the following:

Birds: hawks, eagles, herons and storks.
Mammals: sand fox, fennec fox, hyena, mountain goat, deer, mountain hare.
Sea animals: barracuda, tuna fish, shark, angel fish.
Reptiles: turbot- dolphins.
Coral reefs (solid or mollusk): snakes- lizards.
The Ras Muhammad nature reserve is indeed a world of its own. No wonder, it has been the hub of diving fans and lovers of virgin environment.